Evening Briefing: Thursday 15 October 2026
- If you live in the south-west or Sussex: severe drought has been declared across parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and both Sussexes, with Wimbleball reservoir at 14.9% against the roughly 75% expected in October. Supplies will not be interrupted, but water companies have been ordered onto daily monitoring and everyone is being asked to use less.
- If you bank, or hold bank shares: the chancellor is expected to raise the surcharge banks pay on their profits at the Budget on 28 October, an option that would bring in upwards of £2bn a year. The four largest lenders have made £200bn in pre-tax profits over the past five years.
- If you are a hospital patient or you work in one: new guidance says single-sex wards, bays and staff facilities in England should be allocated on biological sex rather than gender identity, with gender-neutral alternatives offered and clinical need overriding in emergency care. Recorded breaches of the old mixed-sex rules reached 5,520 in August.
Russia Says Ukraine Struck a Refinery Hours After the Block Lifted
Moscow says Kyiv attempted a large-scale attack on a refinery south of the capital early today, with four missiles and dozens of drones intercepted and falling debris starting a fire at Ryazan. It follows Volodymyr Zelensky’s declaration t…
Houthi Missiles Hit Yemen’s Presidential Palace in Aden
Five ballistic missiles struck the al-Maashiq palace in Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government. The prime minister and other ministers were unhurt. The information minister Moammar al-Eryani put the dead at two securit…
Seven Missing After a Drone Attack Sets a Tanker Ablaze Off Romania
Seven of twelve crew are unaccounted for from the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, which reported explosions and fire thirteen nautical miles east of the mouth of the Danube this morning. Romania’s president said a second chemical tanker ha…
Peshawar School Toll Passes Thirty as the Owner Is Arrested
At least thirty-three pupils and a teacher were killed when the roof of a top-floor classroom at a private school in Peshawar gave way and crashed through the floors below, on the count published at 16:26; a later report put the number of…
Trump Calls Off the Livestream of a Firing-Squad Execution
The president has cancelled plans to broadcast the execution of the former army psychiatrist who shot dead thirteen soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009. “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed,” he wrote,…
Donaldson Sentenced to Fifteen Years for Child Sexual Abuse
The former Democratic Unionist leader was given eleven years for offences against one victim and four for the other, to run consecutively, at Newry Crown Court. Because the offences predate a 2008 order he qualifies for fifty per cent remi…
Healey Expected to Raise the Bank Surcharge in the Budget
The chancellor has decided to tap the financial sector for extra revenue on 28 October to offset the damage the Middle East war has done to the public finances. Reversing a cut to the surcharge banks pay on their profits is among the optio…
NHS England Says Wards Should Be Allocated by Biological Sex
New guidance says trans patients in England should be cared for on single-sex wards or bays matching their biological sex rather than their gender identity, and that staff facilities should be used on the same basis. Where that is not clin…
Severe Drought Declared Across Parts of Southern England
The Environment Agency has declared severe drought in parts of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and East and West Sussex after months of low rainfall and the hottest summer on record. Wimbleball reservoir on Exmoor stands at 14.9% of capa…
Nandy Minded to Intervene in Sky’s £1.6bn Deal for ITV
The culture secretary says there are reasonable grounds to believe the takeover of ITV’s media and entertainment arm could affect free expression and the range of views available in British news. She is considering a public interest interv…